Palm Grove Beach Resort Udupi

... fresh coconut. The food in the South is delicious - I'm biased though since it's very similar to my mum's cooking that I grew up on. The homesickness has eased a bit because of this. Lunch that day cost us 50Rs. (that's 75p) for two meals and two freshly squeezed orange juices. We were astounded by how cheap things were in Udupi, and it seems in the South in general. For one, south India is less touristy so perhaps they haven't clicked that they can fleece us (tuk tuk drivers even quote ...

... to watch, and today we have just a had mooch around. There is not much to do or see here, but it has a certain charm to it, especially the old part near the temple, so I'm glad we used it as a break on our way to Kerala. We did call in on the astrologer that is based in our hotel, but after Sumi had her charts read, I decided not to bother. Apparantly, she need him to take a puja at the temple for her, and in order for her problems ...

... Allting går i betydligt långsammare takt än jag är van vid, vilket är riktigt skönt. Mitt "arbetsrum" är en dator i ett av universitets lab. Den har inte kontakt till nätet, så en hel del saker blir mycket svåra (sen är facebook spärrat på de datorer som sen har nätkontakt), dessutom är det nu som då lektioner där och då kan man inte vara där. Ibland är det föreläsningar också så då kan man höra med ett öra på då någon professor har diktamen åt ...

... day to meet up wtih Pranesh for breakfast. Udupi is essentially an important temple town for Vaishnavite pilgrims who visit the Krishna temple there which is the birthplace of a Hindu saint. The legend is that a Krishna deity turned around and allowed a low caste worshipper to enter the sanctum so now all people are allowed in. The large temple is surrounded by 8 monastries and full of activity. The pilgrims make massive donations to the temple from around the ...

... couldnt sleep for choking. It was all a bit naff really!! Twarted by cold in SAPA, by 'man being away' for Paragliding in Arambol and now a cold again when I was again gagging for some active stuff. Seems the universe wants me to sit on my **** a bit more? Decided to look on the brightside and allow self to do nowt. This s harder than it seems for a figet ****. Have spent the last two ear popping, snot factory days sweating, lying on bed like something out of ...

... esseks accent 'Don't spray it man, those things can live through chemical warfare, just brush it with the broom.' I felt like replying 'I don't think you'd be so relaksed if this thing was right nekst to your bed, MAN'. They then continued to talk so all could hear about drugs they'd tried, and were generally pretensious and annoying until 2am, right below my hut. Right I'm off to do, something, not sure what, ah, help, I don't like this alone malarky, I feel a bit lost?...

... It's the one on all the postcards with the huge palm tree fringed sandy beach. It's got great beach huts and restaurants (and a few cows of course) and because it was a couple of hours south, there was no monsoon!!! Nice. With the perfect blue sky everyday I spent pretty much most of my time on the beach working on my tan and every evening smashed in one of the bars... Good times!! There isn't allot I can say about South Goa, other than I did ...

Well, here we go again. . Yesterday I typed in about a thousand words or so, and even saved in wordpad. Then suddenly the power went out, as it is wont to do here in India. Unfortunately there was no battery backup at the internet caf I was at. . "Broken" they told me. I thought that, ok, no problem, I had just saved a minute before. . When I returned, though, there was no trace of my file. Some glitch of the computer, something. You can imagine my chagrin, but after a bit of stewing ...

... to be open, the Quarterdeck Restaurant. This is a nice outdoor eaterie, cool, breezy with great harbour views and serving delicious meals. We had an amazing prawn curry, served with a coconut and prawn sambol, cabbage curry, rice and naan bread washed down with some liquid refreshment - it was so tasty that we returned the next day for some more ! Panaji itself exudes lots of charm; with its old Portuguese architecture, it's brightly coloured fishing fleet and it's ...

... walking around looking at the stalls full of Indian & hippy crafts. This time he hated it. No albino family, no snake charmers etc. The market symbolises the impact package tourism has had on north Goa. The market was full of stalls selling overpriced tatty 'I Love Goa' T shirts, along with badly made jewellery, fake designer gear, very dodgy fags (it might say Marlboro on the pack but it was definately camel poo inside). All at premium price ...